Motherwell 1 Rangers 3: Light Blues breeze past Steelmen with 10 men in Fir Park stroll

Motherwell couldn't make use of a Rangers red card as the Ibrox club swept them aside 3-1 in Premiership action at Fir Park.

The champions were ahead through an own goal by goalkeeper Liam Kelly inside the opening quarter but things turned dramatically when Leon Balogun was sent off for the Light Blues after 28 minutes.

Ross Tierney pounced and put 'Well on level terms before half-time, but that was a short-lived moment as Scott Wright restored the away club's lead two minutes after play had restarted.

It got worse for the claret and amber team when James Tavernier stepped up to double his team's lead and all but end the game as a contest.

A man advantage wasn't enough of a boost for Motherwell, who are now with just one win in 14 leagues matches.

The result leaves Graham Alexander's side sixth while Giovanni van Bronckhorst's men go three points off leaders Celtic with four games to go.

'Well made two changes to the team that secured a top six place at Livingston two weeks ago. Key striker Kevin van Veen was missing through suspension and defender Solholm Johansen also missed out.

Attacking midfielder Ross Tierney and centre-back Juhani Ojala came in as the visitors made eight changes to a side which beat Celtic in Scottish Cup semi-final action last Sunday.

Only defenders James Tavernier, Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic kept their place as van Bronckhorst looked ahead to Thursday's Europa League semi-final with RB Leipzig.

This fixture was moved forward 24 hours to help the Light Blues prepare for that but the mission was still the same for Motherwell - gain a big boost for their European football quest.

Competing with Dundee United and Ross County for fourth and fifth which guarantees Europa Conference League